The Santa Fe (Alachua) boys basketball team was up and down in its FHSAA Class 4A-Region 2 Quarterfinal against visiting Liberty (Kissimmee) on Wednesday night.

But when it comes to the postseason, it’s all about survival and advance.

The No. 4 seed Raiders (17-10) did just that in a 53-51 win at home against No. 5 seed Liberty (Kissimmee).

“It was a good team win,” said Santa Fe coach Glen Banks. “I felt like early in the game we were a little tight, but we leaned on our seniors and our alpha male AJ Hall.”

Hall scored eight in the opening quarter as Santa Fe built a 15-10 lead.

However, the Raiders went almost four minutes without a field goal spanning the end of the first and the first three minutes of the second quarter and the Chargers tied the game at 15-15 on a right-wing 3-pointer by senior Tijay Jones and a layup by sophomore Camryn Irvin.

Liberty (16-6) had its own offensive inefficiencies.

After Irvin’s basket, the Chargers didn’t have another field goal until senior forward Tasir Best scored on a jumper with 1:08 to play in the half.

A 3-pointer in the left corner by Santa Fe sophomore guard Brody Sapp led to a 7-0 run, which included a steal and a dunk by senior guard Cedric Collins.

“As a team, we played well defensively,” Banks said. “Offensively, because of the style of defense that they play, you can’t really run any sets so I’m happy. We’re 3-0 right now in the postseason and that’s what we want to be.”

Liberty sophomore Lamar Lee (team-high 18 points) came out on fire in the third quarter as he single-handedly erased a 24-20 halftime deficit with his own 10-2 run, including a layup with 6:32 remaining in the third quarter to give the Chargers their first lead of the game at 27-26.

Later in the quarter, senior Felix Cortijo gave Liberty its largest lead at 36-29 on a jump shot with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter, but that’s when the game changed.

Collins (11 points) hit a right-corner 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in the quarter to bring the Raiders within four and he nailed a 3-ball from the top of the key at the buzzer to pull the Raiders with three, 38-35, heading into the fourth quarter.

“Cedric is our energy guy,” Banks said. “He plays defense, he plays offense, and he plays 100 miles per hour on both ends of the court. I can’t say enough about him. He is a guy that gives you everything, every play, every day.”

It helped spark a 12-0 run.

Hall’s layup tied the game at 38-38 just one minute into the final quarter. The junior scored 10 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter.

“Rebounding the basketball and playing defense,” Hall said about the key to victory. “That’s our game, to try and run out, get rebounds, score, and lockdown.

After Hall’s basket, senior power forward Mikijah King made a steal near midcourt and finished with a layup for a 40-38 lead just eight seconds later.

“Mikijah, he’s a football guy, but he’s a good defensive player,” Banks said. “He missed a couple of layups in the fourth quarter, but he gives us great minutes off the bench, and it was a spark that we needed. Like I always say, you never know who it’s gonna be each night. We always need AJ to be AJ, but we need those other guys to chip in…we’re a good team in that way especially when we’re not being selfish.”

Sapp made a pair of free throws with 1:08 to play but the Raiders turned it over three straight possessions and allowed Liberty to cut it to two, 53-51, on a free throw by Julian Soria with 37 seconds to play.

Up two, Hall missed two free throws with seven seconds remaining in the game, but senior Kewan Hall grabbed an offensive rebound and got fouled with 5.3 seconds left.

He missed the first throw and made the second but committed a lane violation by leaving early on the shot.

That set up a potential game-winning shot or at least a chance to get it overtime but Cortijo turned the ball over near the foul line with 1.1 seconds left to clinch the victory.

Santa Fe will travel to No. 1 seed Eustis at 7 p.m. on Monday for the regional semifinals. The Panthers (19-8) advanced with a 54-36 win at home against No. 8 seed Bishop Moore (Orlando).

“We’re going to take it one game at a time like we’ve been doing,” Banks said. “Eustis is a very, very good team. They’re No. 7 in our class and they’re No. 1 in our region for a reason, so we’ll lock in, get some film tomorrow, and then get in here for the next couple of days and get ready for Monday.”

FHSAA Boys Basketball scores – Wednesday, Feb. 12

Area teams in bold

Regional Quarterfinals

Class 5A-Region 1

3 Gainesville 64, 6 Columbia (Lake City) 51

Class 4A-Region 2

4 Santa Fe (Alachua) 53, 5 Liberty (Kissimmee) 51

Class 3A-Region 1

2 Newberry 82, 7 Bolles (Jacksonville) 77

Class 2A-Region 1

2 Master’s Academy (Oviedo) 80, 7 P.K. Yonge 48

Regional Semifinals

Rural Class-Region 3

1 Hilliard 57, 4 Trenton 54

2 Fort White 46, 3 Madison County 44

Rural Class-Region 4

1 Hawthorne 54, 4 Moore Haven 32

2 Williston 75, 3 Wildwood 40

Monday, Feb. 17

Regional Semifinals

Class 5A-Region 1

3 Gainesville at 2 Ponte Vedra

Class 4A-Region 2

4 Santa Fe (Alachua) at 1 Eustis

Class 3A-Region 1

3 Florida High (Tallahassee) at 2 Newberry

Region Finals

Rural Class-Region 3

2 Fort White at 1 Hilliard

Rural Class-Region 4

2 Williston at 1 Hawthorne